Unable to forget scene of accident: Survivor of train tragedy
10 May 2020 09:47:03
AURANGABAD :
ONE of the survivors of the tragedy in which 16 migrant workers were crushed to death by a goods train in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra on Friday, says he cannot come to terms with what happened after he saw his companions dying in front of him. Shivmaan Singh, who is now travelling back to his native place in Madhya Pradesh in a train along with the bodies of his 16 companions, said that he has not been to sleep after the accident as the disturbing images of the tragedy kept coming to his mind. “After the tragedy stuck on Friday morning, so many things happened.
Although I was exhausted and tired, I could hardly sleep at night as the gory images of the accident kept coming to my mind. I am not able to forget the tragedy that unfolded before me,” Singh told PTI. “After the news of the train accident broke, my family members tried calling me repeatedly. But my phone was off as its battery was discharged,” he said. Singh and 19 others were walking home in Madhya Pradesh amid the coronavirus- enforced lockdown. They decided to rest on the tracks near Karmad, around 30 km from Aurangabad, after walking for about 36 kms. However, they were run over by the goods train coming from Jalna at 5.15 am. While 16 of them died, four others survived.
Recalling the incident, Singh said, “I was walking a little slower than others due to the pain in my legs. When we reached the place of incident, we slept as we were very tired. I was sleeping a little distance away. But when I heard a sound of a fast-approaching train, I woke up. I tried to raise an alarm. However, everything was over in a matter of seconds.”
Father of 2 victims of train tragedy recalls last conversation
SHAHDOL,
May 9 (PTI)
Just a day before he was killed in the train accident in Aurangabad, 28-year-old Brajesh Singh had informed his father that he would be reaching their village by a special train soon. For Gajraj Singh, a resident of Antoli village in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district, that phone call was the last conversation he had with his sons Brajesh and Shivdayal (25). “Only a day before the mishap, my sons informed me that they had left on foot to board a train from Maharashtra and will reach Shahdol soon. They told me that they would sit in the train on Friday. But instead of my sons, the news of their death has reached me,” said an inconsolable Gajraj.
A pall of gloom descended the home of Antoli resident Ramniranjan Singh, who lost his young sons, who were barely out of their teens. “I have lost my support system and now I don’t know how I will live,” said Ramniranjan, father of Nirvesh Singh (20) and Ravendra Singh (18). Senior officials and Beohari MLA Sharad Kol, among others, reached the village to help the grief-stricken families.
“We will probably hold a common funeral for the deceased from the village. The district administration has sanctioned Rs 10,000 each for the purpose,” an official said. Meanwhile, Shahdol station manager K P Gupta said the train carrying bodies of the deceased was likely to reach Shahdol around 1 pm.